Prominent Riverina grower fined $56,000 for over-pumping

A prominent Riverina cotton and cereal grower has been fined for over-pumping water worth $253,460.

Cotton and cereal grower Timothy Commins was fined on Tuesday for over-pumping 1351ML of water.

A Riverina cotton and cereal grower has been fined $56,000 for over-pumping water worth $253,460.

Whitton farmer Timothy Commins pleaded guilty in the Land and Environment Court to taking 1351ML of groundwater above his pumping limit between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2019.

On Tuesday, Mr Commins was fined $56,000 and ordered to pay costs of $70,000 to the Natural Resources Access Regulator.

Mr Commins grows irrigated cotton, barley, canola and pigeon peas on his family property

Brigalow Farm, near Whitton in the NSW Riverina.

In 2016 he won Cotton Australia’s high achiever of the year award with his brother Roger for the family’s innovative farming techniques and their work setting up the Southern Cotton gin at Whitton.

He told the court he was unaware of a condition on his water approval which limited him to pumping 2630ML in a year, regardless of how much water he had in his account.

The condition had been in place since 2009.

NRAR calculated Mr Commins had exceeded the 2630ML limit by 1351ML of water over two years: 118ML in 2017-18 and 1233 ML in 2018-19.

The over-pumped water was worth an estimated $253,460.

The regulator calculated Mr Commins would have brought in gross revenue of about $741,000 over two years using the water, based on a cotton price of $600 per bale, and a barley price of $246/ tonne.

The Natural Resources Access Regulator picked up the over-pumping during an audit in 2020. Picture: Salty Dingo

Taking into account the cost of growing the crop, NRAR calculated Mr Commins would have made a profit of between $202,650 and $310,000 with the water over two years.

Mr Commins told the regulator he hadn’t read a letter sent to him in 2009 outlining the pumping limit on this account.

“I’ve made a mistake and I haven’t looked at – didn’t – not realising there was an extraction limit put there,” he said.

He told the investigators he checked his water balance several times a month by logging in to WaterNSW’s internet water accounting system.

This system told him how much water was in his account, including unused water carried over from previous years. It did not include the 2630ML limit or indicate when he had exceeded that limit.

Justice Rachel Pepper said in her ruling the offence “undermined the equitable sharing and taking of water and the protection of water sources promoted by the statutory regime.”

She found there was a risk of environmental harm, and harm to other water users, due to a decrease in groundwater pressure as a result of the over-pumping, and an increased risk of compaction of the groundwater source, which could permanently reduce the aquifer’s ability to hold and carry water.

But she acknowledged Mr Commins had paid for the water in his account and said there was no evidence he had over-extracted the water with the intention of irrigating more crops for profit or trading water on the market.

She found he was of good character, with no prior convictions and granted him a 20 per cent discount on an original $70,000 fine due to an early guilty plea.